EAGAN, Minn.  On a laptop at a kitchen table in this cheery Twin Cities suburb, headlines ripping into Al Franken ... are written up day after day for Minnesota Democrats Exposed, a political blog created by a former Republican Party researcher.

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But Minnesota Democrats Exposed has dealt several blows to Mr. Frankens campaign lately: revelations that he owed $25,000 to the State of New York for failing to pay workers compensation insurance and that his corporation was in forfeiture in California.

With only weeks until the state Democratic Partys convention, where Mr. Franken is expected to win the partys endorsement to run against Senator Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent, people here disagree about how much these financial questions will matter to voters in the fall.

What Mr. Frankens circumstance has proven, though, is that no Minnesota candidate this fall can afford to ignore Mr. Brodkorb, or the rest of the states universe of Web sites devoted to local politics. Experts here say the abundance of these blogs is a mirror onto this state, its partisan split in recent years and its long tradition of intense political activism (by some measures, voter turnout here was the highest in the nation in 2006).

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The Franken campaign has played down the significance of the revelations first raised on Mr. Brodkorbs site, but there are signs the tax problems may be trouble for Mr. Franken.... A recent poll of voters by The Minneapolis Star Tribune that showed Mr. Coleman leading Mr. Franken (though within the margin of error) also found that 42 percent of those polled were not satisfied with Mr. Frankens explanations of his tax problems; 28 percent said the problems made them less likely to vote for him.

A recent poll of voters by The Minneapolis Star Tribune that showed Mr. Coleman leading Mr. Franken (though within the margin of error)

That is not true. Coleman is 7 points ahead in this, the most partisan DFL favoring poll which is well outside the margin of error. This poll historically has overstated the Democrats support anywhere from 5-7 points when compared to actual results. So in reality Coleman is probably 10+ points ahead.

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